Amy Schmittauer Landino is an expert on video and video blogging. Not surprisingly, she is all in on video marketing. She’s the Founder of SavvySexySocial.com, Vlog Boss Studios, and author of Vlog Like a Boss. I’ve watched her channel for more than a year and so I was super excited to be in the same room with her for 45 minutes at Content Marketing World, where I attended her session on how to create and repurpose video content to get more attention for my library.

And by the way, Amy led this session mere days after her wedding in Vegas. She’s a true pro and is committed to helping others.

Video marketing will be a large focus for my library in the next year, and honestly, I hope it is for you too. It’s not as intimidating as it seems. You don’t need fancy equipment to market with video successfully. In fact, what Amy says you need to focus on the parts of video marketing that don’t even involve the camera. She told us that anyone can become a talented video marketer–all you have to do is start making videos and then keep practicing. All of the technical stuff–lighting, shots, background, audio–can be perfected through practice. But there are non-technical things you can do to improve the chances your video will be watched and shared and they are just as important as having a beautiful finished product. Here are her tips.

Plan and be consistent. Plan your programming ahead of time. Think of the videos you produce as you would if you were running a station. What are you going to do for the next several months? How much time do you need to shoot, edit, and get approvals? Planning will ease stress for you and will help you to secure the interviews and shots you need. Post your videos on a consistent basis, on the same day and time if you can. Your audience will begin to expect your videos!

Make videos about things your customer wants to know–not what YOU THINK they want to know. Amy says this is mandatory for creating videos that are watched and shared. Stop focusing on what your library thinks it needs to communicate and start thinking about what your cardholders need to know.  What do they think about? What are they Googling? What questions are they asking at the reference desk or at the front door or in programs? I went to our chat service and asked them for a list of the top ten questions asked by our cardholders. That’s my video plan for next year!

Keywords are so very important. When you post your video, make sure you do your keyword research ahead of time so your audience will be able to find your video! Posting your video with whatever keywords come to mind is not consistent or helpful. You have to plan and use the relevant keywords in captions, the title, and the description. Amy recommends doing your keyword research on Tubebuddy.

Post, then wait. Amy posts her videos first on YouTube and then waits 48 hours so YouTube can categorize and rank her video. Once that happens she does a Facebook post and points people where she wants them to watch it–whether it’s on her YouTube channel or on her website. It’s an interesting concept if your library decides you want your cardholders to mostly watch your videos on YouTube. Right now, my library is posting our videos on our website, on Facebook, and on YouTube. I want to be convenient to my cardholders. Amy says that might not be the best strategy, as you run the risk of oversaturating your viewers with the same piece of video. If she’s right, we’ll adjust our process. Don’t be afraid to experiment and react according to the results.

Make sure your video passes the share test. Amy says you must ask yourself if your video passes the share test. Will your audience say to themselves, “I have to share this because it is that good!” If your stuff doesn’t pass that test, don’t even shoot it. Focus your energy on videos that people will share.

Does your library produce videos? Please comment or send me an email at ahursh@yahoo.com. I’ll be featuring great library marketing videos in an upcoming post and I’d love to include your library!

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